Which MLS Clubs Have New Managers? A Look at the Nine Appointments for 2026

A new season of Major League Soccer has nearly arrived and the world’s largest top division will feature several new faces on the touchline, as nine teams embark on 2026 with new managers at the helm.

Five clubs in the Western Conference brought in new managers, while four in the Eastern Conference followed a similar path. Most of the teams did so in a bid to secure further success next season or to simply fill voids after overseas clubs scooped up impressive talent.

Clubs returned to preseason training in the third week of January and managers will have roughly one month to establish their new visions before the 2026 MLS season kicks off on Feb. 21.

Here, Sports Illustrated takes a look at each of the new managerial hires ahead of the 2026 campaign.

Atlanta United

Tata Martino returns to Atlanta United after a year off from coaching. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Outgoing Manager: Ronny Deila
New Manager: Gerardo “Tata” Martino

The 2025 MLS season did not go the way Atlanta United hoped. After spending a then-MLS record fee of $22 million plus add-ons on striker Emmanuel Latte Lath and bringing in highly touted manager Ronny Deila, the club struggled from the start, sputtering to a 14th-place finish in the Eastern Conference.

There has been an overhaul this offseason. CEO and sporting director Garth Lagerwey stepped away from his role amid a battle with cancer and confirmed that he would not return to the job once healthy. His move came after appointing Gerardo “Tata” Martino as manager for 2026, bringing back the man who steered them to the 2018 MLS Cup title.

Martino, 63, not only led Atlanta to MLS Cup that year, but also finished with a club-record 69 points in the regular season. Since then, the Argentine manager has coached Inter Miami to the 2023 Leagues Cup and the 2024 Supporters’ Shield, earning a league-record 74 points.

The former Barcelona manager is now signed through the 14-game 2027 MLS season.

Colorado Rapids

Matt Wells comes to the Colorado Rapids from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. | Courtesy of Colorado Rapids

Outgoing Manager: Chris Armas
New Manager: Matt Wells

The Colorado Rapids are bringing in talent from the Premier League to lead them in the 2026 season, naming former Tottenham Hotspur assistant Matt Wells as manager, replacing Chris Armas.

After finishing 11th in the Western Conference, despite the expensive acquisition of USMNT-capped midfielder Paxten Aaronson, the Rapids parted ways with former manager Armas in October, opening the door for Wells to take the role.

The 37-year-old was on Tottenham’s staff for two-plus seasons and brings experience from the Premier League, Champions League and Europa League to Colorado. He will hope to return the club to the MLS Cup playoffs and improve on their 41 points in 2025.

One of the youngest managers in MLS, Wells will make his debut in the top role against Seattle Sounders on Feb. 22.

Columbus Crew

Henrik Rydström takes over from Wilfried Nancy with Columbus Crew. | Courtesy of Columbus Crew

Outgoing Manager: Wilfried Nancy
New Manager: Henrik Rydström

It was a dramatic offseason for the Columbus Crew and the club might have preferred to wait an extra couple of weeks before naming Henrik Rydström as their newest manager, replacing Wilfried Nancy.

The Crew’s coaching search began when Nancy joined Scottish Premier League club Celtic on Dec. 3, becoming one of the first MLS-developed managers to take over a European side. Unfortunately for Nancy, his spell at Celtic was disastrous, ending after losing six of his eight games, including a loss to Rangers in the Old Firm derby.

Celtic split with Nancy on Jan. 5, days after Columbus confirmed the hiring of Rydström on Dec. 31. Now, the club hopes the Swedish manager can help them improve on their 54 points and seventh-place finish in the Eastern Conference in 2025.

Rydström arrives with a decade of coaching experience, most recently at Malmö FF in his native Sweden, where he won two straight league titles and the 2023-24 Swedish Cup. Known for his expansive style, Rydström has also established himself as a metaphorical muse, which should provide ample off-pitch entertainment.

“[Columbus] general manager (Issa Tall) told me: ‘It’s important to win, but sometimes we’ve won games and you’ve died a little bit inside because of how badly we played.’ That appealed to me; there was something in their tone of how they see football. Life is too short to eat bad hamburgers, life is too short to play bad football,” Rydström told Swedish outlet, Barometern.

“I’ve always liked (musician) Anders Wendin. Moneybrother. Partly because he’s a friend, but above all because he just drives. I love him. It doesn’t matter what the context is, he just drives. My wife and I went to see him recently and it hit me that that’s how I want to be as a football coach. I want a team that’s like a f------- rock band.”

Sporting Kansas City

Raphael Wicky looks to lead Sporting Kansas City back to former glory. | Courtesy of Sporting Kansas City

Outgoing Manager: Kerry Zavagnin (interim)
New Manager: Raphaël Wicky

Sporting Kansas City finished at the bottom of the Western Conference in 2025 and have moved on from interim manager Keyy Zagavin, naming 48-year-old Raphaël Wicky to the permanent role for 2026.

Wicky comes over from Swiss top-flight side BSC Young Boys and inherits an SKC side that finished with a measly 28 points in 34 regular-season games. The club parted ways with 12 players soon after, leaving him with a largely blank canvas.

He joins the club as the first manager hired under the new president and general manager David Lee, who joined after leaving his role as sporting director with New York City FC. An ESPN report also suggested that Wicky was a finalist for the NYCFC role in 2025, when Lee was still with the club.

A former Swiss international as a player, coaching Kansas City won’t be Wicky’s first MLS experience, as he returns to the league where he previously played with the now-defunct Chivas USA in 2008.

LAFC

Marc Dos Santos takes over as LAFC manager after several years as an assistant. | Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images

Outgoing Manager: Steve Cherundolo
New Manager: Marc Dos Santos

LAFC had plenty of time to find a replacement manager after Steve Cherundolo announced that 2025 would be his final campaign in April. Yet they opted to elevate longtime assistant manager Marc Dos Santos instead, bringing the Canadian into a top MLS role for the second time in his career, after previously coaching the Vancouver Whitecaps from 2017 to 2018.

Cherundolo, while divisive, led LAFC to the 2022 Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup, as well as the 2024 U.S. Open Cup, before falling trophyless in 2025 amid a year in which the Black & Gold earned a spot in the first 32-team FIFA Club World Cup.

Now, Dos Santos takes over the role and leadership of the superstar duo of Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga, looking to have more success than the combined 22W-37L-18D record he had in Vancouver.

Minnesota United

Cameron Knowles takes over from Eric Ramsay on the touchline for Minnesota United. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Outgoing Manager: Eric Ramsay
New Manager: Cameron Knowles

Minnesota United always knew the possibility that their young English manager, Eric Ramsay could be scooped up, and that move finally happened weeks before the start of the 2026 preseason, as he joined English Championship side West Bromwich Albion for the rest of their campaign.

As such, the Loons had to move quickly to find his replacement, landing on immediately elevating assistant manager Cameron Knowles to the top role on a permanent basis. Knowles, a native of New Zealand, helped Minnesota finish fourth in the Western Conference in 2025 and advance to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals while playing a low-possession, counter-pressing style under Ramsay.

Without Ramsay, Knowles will have the flexibility to adjust Minnesota’s tactical approach, but will do so without 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Dayne St. Clair, who joined Inter Miami in the offseason.

New England Revolution

Marko Mitrović hopes to lead the New England Revolution back to the MLS Cup playoffs. | Courtesy of the New England Revolution

Outgoing Manager: Caleb Porter
New Manager: Marko Mitrović

The New England Revolution have moved on from their Caleb Porter era, ending the veteran MLS manager’s spell with the club from 2024 to 2025. In his place, they have appointed former U-20 USMNT manager Marko Mitrović as their boss for the 2026 season.

Mitrović comes to the Revolution after leading the U.S. to a quarterfinal finish at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He had also helped the U.S. U-23 squad reach the quarterfinals of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

With the Revolution, Mitrović takes on his first top managerial role in the professional game, having put in a previous spell as an assistant manager on Chicago Fire FC’s staff from 2016 to 2019, before joining U.S. Soccer.

Taking on his new challenge, he will look to bring the Revolution back to the MLS Cup playoffs for the first time since 2023 and improve on an 11th-place finish, which saw the club claim 36 points in 34 regular-season matches last season.

Red Bull New York

Outgoing Manager: Sandro Schwarz
New Manager: Michael Bradley

Former USMNT midfielder Michael Bradley will make his MLS managerial debut less than a year after taking the reins with Red Bull New York II, officially replacing former Red Bull coach Sandro Schwarz ahead of the 2026 season.

Bradley, who won MLS Cup as a DP midfielder with Toronto FC in 2017, retired from playing in 2023 and has since worked toward becoming a top-tier manager. While playing, he attended coaches’ meetings at Toronto FC alongside his father Bob Bradley, who served as the club’s manager from 2021 to 2023, leading to his quick ascension on the touchline.

Since retiring, Bradley took on an assistant role under his father at Sweden’s Stæbek and spent time under Jesse Marsch with Canada’s men’s national team, before taking on his first top role with RBNY II in MLS Next Pro. In his first spell as a manager, Bradley won MLS Next Pro, earning his chance at the senior side.

A New Jersey native returning home, Bradley amassed 151 caps as the longtime USMNT captain, leading the team to two Gold Cup titles and playing in the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.

Now, he looks to bring Red Bull back to the MLS Cup playoffs after the club missed the postseason for the first time in 15 years with a 10th-place finish in the Eastern Conference in 2025.

St. Louis CITY SC

Outgoing Manager: David Critchley (interim)
New Manager: Yoann Damet

St. Louis CITY SC enter an MLS season with a new manager for the second year in a row, with hopes that the 2026 appointment of Yoann Damet goes better than their 2025 hiring of Olof Mellberg, who they parted ways with after 15 games.

Damet, 35, takes his first full-time managerial role after serving as an assistant under Nancy at the Columbus Crew, where he won MLS Cup in 2023 and Leagues Cup in 2024. Previously, he was also an assistant with the LA Galaxy and was a two-time interim manager with FC Cincinnati.

A native of Marseille, France, he arrived in St. Louis amid a rebuild under new sporting director Corey Wray, who assumed the role in November as a replacement for Lutz Pfannenstiel. Yet the club had made no acquisitions by Dec. 16, the day it confirmed Damet for the role.

After Mellberg and interim manager David Critchley led the team to a 13th-place finish in the Western Conference with 32 points in 2025, there is hope that Damet can turn the club’s fortunes in 2026 and beyond.